Sure, Norv Turner appeared more relaxed Tuesday. But not so much changed with one victory.

"The most important thing was to win the football game," Turner said of his team's 48-29 Monday night victory over the New York Jets. "... Every team is a work in progress right now. We have things we're doing at a real high level and things we have to do better."

The defense played worlds better, the offense continued to roll. In fact, the team's 110 points ranks second in franchise history through a season's first three games, behind only the 114 the 1981 team put up.

The Chargers players were off Tuesday, the coaches got to planning for the Oakland Raiders, and fans took a break from campaigning for the demise of Turner and defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell.

But all is not right.

"This isn't a fix-all," defensive end Luis Castillo said. "This isn't, 'We won a game and everything is back to normal.'"

In fact, decidedly abnormal was an oft-overlooked, yet immensely crucial part of the game.

The Chargers were challenged only briefly by the Jets, and only then because they could so rarely stop the Jets from taking huge chunks of field position on kickoff returns.

New York had to drive 5 yards for its second touchdown after a 94-yard return. The Jets had to cover just 19 yards in the fourth quarter after a 54-yard return.

In all, thanks also to Antonio Cromartie thinking end zone while trying and failing to recover an onside kick and a Jets interception return for a touchdown, Brett Favre's offense traveled a total of 150 yards for its 22 points.

The porous coverage was an uncharacteristic showing by a unit that has over the past two seasons ranked seventh in the NFL in the kickoff return average it allowed (21.4 yards). But it was not totally surprising in that changes in the lineup have forced special teams standouts such as Tim Dobbins, Jyles Tucker and Steve Gregory to play more and inexperienced players to contribute on special teams.

"One of our strengths has been special teams, our coverage teams particularly," Turner said. "We weren't as good as we've been. When you start breaking it down, there's a trickle-down effect that happens when you start having players who were backup players playing on special teams that become starters. ... You start asking other guys to step up and take their place or play more on special teams. We've got some guys that just have to play better in the kicking game."

The good news is that as the Chargers attempt in a short week to get ready for the Raiders, Turner said they emerged from the Jets game healthier than they've been.

Turner cautioned a 10th straight victory over the dysfunctional Raiders will not be as easy as some think.

"In the last two games, they've been outstanding on defense," he said. "They're obviously running the ball as well as anyone in the National Football League. They're using a couple of backs and they're just pounding it, pounding it, pounding it. They have a big, physical offensive line.

"They had every right to win the game last week in Buffalo against a very good Buffalo team, losing it on the very last play of the game. We've got to get ourselves ready to play a very physical football game."